Russia and Iran stressed the importance of achieving a long-term political and diplomatic settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and considered the role that countries in the region can play in this process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday at a news conference following talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
"We discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh taking into account Russia's mediation efforts, which make it possible to maintain a sustainable cease-fire. We stressed the importance of overcoming the consequences of the conflict and generally achieving a long-term political and diplomatic settlement on a fair basis in the interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples, and considered the role the countries of the region could play in this process," the Russian Foreign Minister said.
The situation in the conflict zone around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27 last year, and active fighting broke out there. Baku and Yerevan are disputing the belonging of the region since February 1988, when it announced its secession from the Azerbaijani SSR. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the full cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 9 last year. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the occupied positions, a number of areas came under Baku's control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor.
Situation in Syria
Russia and Iran also agreed to continue active interaction within the Astana format (Russia, Turkey and Iran) to resolve the conflict in Syria.
"Of course, we checked with each other on the current military-political and humanitarian situation in Syria. In order to resolve the crisis in this country as soon as possible, we agreed to continue active interaction within the framework of the Astana format together with our Turkish colleagues," Lavrov said.
The 15th international meeting on the Syrian settlement in the Astana format was held in Sochi on February 16-17. According to its results, the guarantor countries of the Astana process in a joint statement reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and agreed to continue the fight against terrorism in the territory of the Arab republic.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS
Based on materials from TASS